Collaboration and interaction: Modelling explored

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 23: Flexible Learning for a Flexible Society

July, 2000, 755 pages
Published by
Lesley Richardson & John Lidstone
ISBN
0908557477
Abstract 

The paper will explore the implications of a two stage program designed to give students a more explicit understanding of academic discourse. In Stage one, Supporting Academic Writing Explicitly (SAWE), which took place in 1999, lecturers and academic skills advisers worked together to demonstrate to second year Education Students the actual steps they, as experienced writers, took to complete the set assignment for the unit. The project experimented with ways of using the traditional context of the lecture to teach writing. The project culminated with students discussing the final drafts of essays written by their lecturers and advisers (after students’ essays were submitted). Student evaluations showed that modelling was valuable for inducting students into the discourse of an academic community. However, it also demonstrated that, for modelling to be most successful, students need to be active participants in the process. The collaboration between the advisers and lecturers proved very successful, giving team members a forum for an on-going conversation about literacy related issues. Stage two, Case Study: Supporting Academic Writing Explicitly (C:SAWE), which took place in Semester One 2000, attempted to make modelling a more participatory process, and to more closely integrate theory with practice. The paper will report on both stages of the project and explore implications for the teaching and learning of academic writing.